Catholic News

• Cardinal Müller, former CDF prefect, blasts Synod report on doctrinal issues (CWN)
  Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the prefect of the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2012 to 2017, blasted the newly published Synod report on doctrinal issues, which included two testimonies written by men in same-sex civil marriages.
• Courage apostolate condemns 'calumny and detraction' in Synod report (Courage)
  An apostolate that ministers to persons with same-sex attractions in a manner consistent with the teaching of the Church condemned the “calumny and detraction” included in the newly published Synod report on doctrinal issues. The General Secretariat of the Synod included the testimonies of two men, one from Portugal and the other from the United States, who have contracted same-sex civil marriages. The American criticized the Courage apostolate in his testimony. Courage International responded: Courage considers this report to be both calumny and detraction against the organization and its members. Calumny, because the report mischaracterizes Courage’s work. Courage is not nor ever has been involved in “reparative therapy,” as alleged. The working group could have clarified this point by simply contacting Courage leadership. Rather than do so, however, the report presents one person’s experience and opinion as part of an official ecclesiastical document ... Courage has suffered calumny and detraction before, but usually from secular outlets. It is a great sadness and an additional wound to our members to have this false and unjust depiction in a Vatican document. If synod officials would like to learn more about Courage International, Inc. and its apostolate over 45 years, our chaplains and members would be happy to meet with them. The Synod published its report three months after Pope Leo received a Courage International delegation. Following the audience, the apostolate’s executive director said that Pope Leo is “very supportive” of Courage.
• Muslims and Christians should condemn persecution, Pope tells Senegal's Muslim leaders (Dicastery for Communication)
  Pope Leo XIV received a delegation of Senegalese Muslim leaders this morning, thanked them for their efforts to foster interreligious dialogue with local Catholics, and told them that Christians and Muslims have a shared responsibility to condemn discrimination and persecution. “As Christians and Muslims, we all believe that every human being is fashioned by the hands of God, and thus endowed with a dignity that no law or human power has the right to take away,” Pope Leo said. “It is on this foundation of brotherhood, rooted in the origins of humanity and in faith, that we jointly assume our shared responsibility: to condemn all forms of discrimination and persecution based on race, religion or origin; to reject any exploitation of God’s name for military, economic or political ends; to raise our voices in support of every minority that suffers,” the Pope added. Located in West Africa, Senegal, a nation of 19.3 million (map), is 92% Muslim, 5% Christian, and 3% ethnic religionist.
• Pope encourages Italian soccer players to be good role models (CWN)
  Pope Leo XIV today encouraged the members of the Inter Milan soccer team to be good role models to the young.
• New Mexico diocese files suit to prevent confiscation of land for border wall (Bloomberg)
  The Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, filed a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from confiscating some of its land for border wall construction. “The Diocesan property that the Government seeks to condemn is located at the base of Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, New Mexico,” attorneys representing the diocese said in their lawsuit. “Atop the mountain sits a 29-foot-tall limestone statue of Jesus Christ that serves as a shrine to thousands of faithful in the El Paso and Southern New Mexico area.” “The mountaintop shrine is the site of annual pilgrimages,” the attorneys continued. “On the feast day of Christ the King each fall, as many as 40,000 faithful climb Mount Cristo Rey” for a Mass. “Some of the faithful make the five-mile journey barefooted, while fewer make the ascent on their knees.”
• Vatican News highlights destruction of Lebanese Christian churches, villages (Vatican News)
  Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, published a short video that shines a spotlight on the destruction of Christian villages, churches, and other Church property in southern Lebanon. The video, entitled “Christians under attack in southern Lebanon,” was produced in conjunction with the French Catholic charity L’Œuvre d’Orient.
• Leading Canadian bishop thanks Pope for 'steady witness' (Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops)
  Writing on behalf of Canada’s Catholics, the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops congratulated Pope Leo XIV for the first year of his pontificate. “From your first greeting of ‘Peace be with you all,’ you have invited the Church and the world to receive anew the peace of the Risen Christ and to walk together in hope,” Bishop Pierre Goudreault of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Quebec, wrote in his May 8 letter. “In this first year of your Petrine Ministry, we have been grateful for your steady witness to unity and communion, as well as your service as Bishop of Rome.”
• Archbishop Sample explains upcoming consecration of US to the Sacred Heart (USCCB)
  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops posted a video by Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, explaining the upcoming consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart. The Consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will take place on June 12, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and will be preceded by a June 3-11 novena.
• Singer Patti Smith inaugurates Holy See pavilion at Venice art show (Vatican News)
  American singer and songwriter Patti Smith inaugurated one of the Holy See’s two pavilions at the Venice Biennale on May 8. The Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place every two years, will conclude on November 22. The Holy See’s exhibit, entitled “The ear is the eye of the soul,” is inspired by the works of St. Hildegard of Bingen; the curators are Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers.
• Illinois diocese announces shrine to Venerable Augustus Tolton (Catholic Times (Springfield))
  The Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, announced plans to establish a shrine to Venerable Augustus Tolton (1854-1897). Father Tolton was born into slavery in Missouri, ordained to the priesthood in Rome, and ministered in Illinois. He was declared venerable in 2019.
• World Jewish Congress's former general counsel comes to Pope Leo's defense (The Catholic Register)
  In an op-ed, the former general counsel of the World Jewish Congress came to Pope Leo XIV’s defense against attacks by President Donald Trump and Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weiss. “The ad hominem attacks on Pope Leo were not just unseemly and inordinately offensive,” Menachem Rosensaft said of President Trump’s attacks. “They backfired spectacularly from a political perspective.” Rosencraft added that “it is critically important for all of us to remember that Pope Leo is a friend to the Jewish community and to humankind as a whole. While there certainly can be disagreements among friends, we must not allow such differences of opinion, in his words, ‘to divert us’ from that friendship or from our respect and admiration for the man who has become in large measure the world’s conscience.”
• Pope Leo issued over 400 appeals for peace during 1st year of pontificate (Vatican News)
  Pope Leo XIV made over 400 appeals for peace during the first year of his pontificate, according to Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, which published an overview of the appeals. The Pontiff began his ministry by recalling Christ’s Easter greeting of peace. In his address upon his election on May 8, 2025, Pope Leo said: Peace be with you all! Dear brothers and sisters, these are the first words spoken by the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for God’s flock. I would like this greeting of peace to resound in your hearts, in your families, among all people, wherever they may be, in every nation and throughout the world. Peace be with you! It is the peace of the risen Christ. A peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering. A peace that comes from God, the God who loves us all, unconditionally.
• Pope challenges citizens of Naples to build an alternative culture to violence (CWN)
  As he concluded his one-day pastoral visit to Pompeii and Naples, Pope Leo XIV addressed the citizens of Naples late this afternoon in the Piazza del Plebiscito.
• Addressing priests in Naples, Pope emphasizes prayer, fraternity (CWN)
  Pope Leo XIV visited Naples Cathedral this afternoon and encouraged priests to care for their spiritual life and be brothers to one another (video).
• Peoria bishop: 'The world needs Fulton Sheen's legacy' (National Catholic Register)
  Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, paid tribute to Venerable Fulton Sheen (1895-1980), who will be beatified in St. Louis in September. “As bishop of the Diocese of Peoria, where Fulton Sheen was born, ordained a priest, and first answered God’s call, I know how gravely the world needs Fulton Sheen’s legacy: clarity in confusion, hope in anxiety, truth spoken with love, and a reminder that life is worth living because it is rooted in Christ,” said Bishop Tylka.
• Pope Leo: The Rosary is the 'hidden engine that makes everything else possible' in Pompeii (CWN)
  Following a 50-minute helicopter flight, Pope Leo XIV arrived this morning at the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii, the first stop in a twelve-hour pastoral visit to Pompeii and Naples.
• Pope Leo, Secretary of State Rubio exchange views (CWN)
  Pope Leo XIV received U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio today (video), three days after President Donald Trump renewed his criticism of the Pontiff.
• Pope, in homily at Pompeii, lauds the Hail Mary and the Rosary (CWN)
  Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass this morning outside the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii (video), after greeting disabled persons and venerating the relics of the shrine’s founder, St. Bartolo Longo (video).
• Poland's PM, Pontiff discuss peace (CWN)
  Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland met with Pope Leo XIV and discussed “responsibility, peace, and a world that today, more than ever, needs solidarity,” according to a social media post from the prime minister.
• Pope describes work of Swiss Guard as vocation to holiness (CWN)
  Pope Leo XIV today received members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard and their families, a day after 28 new members were sworn in.
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